An Open Writing To Smartphone Makers: We Need Longer Battery Life

MY HORRIBLE SMARTPHONE BATTERY LIFE EXPERIENCE

On a cool Saturday evening just like most of my weekends except with Sundays, it was time to kill off some stress and this usually happens while am with the pack that I normally hangout with. And this one wasn’t an exception. I was late having attended to some other calls that I cannot openly disclose, calls coming through reminding me of how I was behind schedule and the guys were making poker faces for my being late. Thing is the party can’t begin without some notable faces like mine in attendance. Forgive me with your “mstchewwwws” I have to brag about for I am known to get the party going and this goes well with my company. Here is a reminder that this writing is not about party going youths but rather about the most annoying thing that was given birth to by the smartphones we carry. They get hungrier every day with the multi-processing. The more apps we open the hungrier they become for our dear battery life. Call it the battery menace. As the calls and texts flooded, I had to find the fastest means to fly myself to this sports bar of sorts we normally hangout and I opted for a “boda boda”.

A few minutes at the venue and the battery warns, 14% of your battery remaining. It’s not so much of a scare as the battery saving mode quickly takes control at this battery rate so I stood firm well knowing I had to find a dock and plug in my phone since I didn’t have any battery bank. This owing to the fact that I hadn’t carried my bag that houses all my accessories and the day being a weekend not an average working day.

And the game goes on

The rugby match ended and good enough my team emerged victorious. I took to social media in celebration of the victory with praises allover social networks notable ones being Facebook & Twitter since ordinary folks who are not so tech savvy have means of accessing the two. And it was with intention that whatever I were posting directly targeted friends on the aforementioned social networks having been spared by digital divide since everyone uses the two. And so responses came back in terms of comments & all these occurrences happened while still at 14% battery life. As eats & drinks ruled the table where we were comfortably seated so did the internet, random texts and calls proved their worth on my already drained battery. The notification read less than 10% of your battery remaining. This made me reach to a conclusion and I decided to turn off my mobile data, reduced the texting & concentrated on” kabozi”(conversation) I had with my peers as I had another destination to head to before I could finally call it a day.

The battery finally gave it a rest !

Before I left my company, that irritating sound notification came my way and there it was, gone and I couldn’t even see the zero percentage count. Only to be reminded of whom my phone manufacturer is with the Nokia logo and the beep then my phone shutdown and went silent. Time for departure came and with no battery bank with in my reach I headed off to my next stop in one of Kampala suburbs worried about how I will manage to communicate.

And then disaster strikes

Like fate would have it, I found the door closed and there was no one to my answer. Knock Knock I did but still no response. The hardest part was to find where to charge my phone from and call my friend or find public pay phone which is a rare sight now days considering how cheap mobile phones have became and everyone at least carries one. The good Lord finally answered my quest and I found where to charge my phone from.

And finally

There I was stranded having to wait for my phone to gain some charge and I resume my expedition, and get to communicate to my would be host. As I waited, the guy who attended to me managed to get a few words out of me and we had a conversation mainly biased with English football yet am not a soccer kind of guy. But having internet at my finger tips wherever I go so long as there is reception courtesy of my boss, I make good use of it as its clustered with sports updates in almost every corner so I kinda like connected and the conversation went on. I managed to convince him and he allowed me use his phone, got in touch with my buddy who then came to my rescue.

We need long lasting batteries

I paid the attendant who in turn handed me my phone and we went off. It gave me a thinking that a beast phone without a monster battery is nothing compared to one holding a not so funky phone that can withstand a long day without plugging it into a socket to charge. After all we hold mobile phones to communicate but falling short of communication is unwelcome. And the sole reason as to why I couldn’t communicate was because of my phones battery draining. I finally came to a conclusion and so should you, to consider a smartphone’s battery capacity before you finally make a purchase. Or better yet carry a portable power bank with you. With all hope, I pray smartphone manufacturers get this message.